RL Anger
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@TNP said:
Plus, when it comes to prescription drugs, unless it's changed in the last couple years, it's illegal for the government to try to get better drug prices from the pharmaceutical companies for Medicare. And who pays for Medicare? The taxpayers! So we get screwed that way too.
whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. That makes so much negative sense. Who put that stupid rule into effect and when?
I'm spooning a Barrett .50 cal.! I could kill a building.
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@surreality said:
@Shebakoby said:
The point i was making about the taxes is it's probably every bit as "gouging" as the companies' prices.
That you think this somehow addresses corporate profit behaviors in any capacity just boggles the mind. It does not. Not even in the slightest way. There is no parity here, it is not a parallel, it isn't even apples and oranges, it's apples and dump trucks.
No, it doesn't address corporate profit behavior. Why can't the government be accused of gouging as well?
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@Shebakoby said:
No, it doesn't address corporate profit behavior. Why can't the government be accused of gouging as well?Because this is what you asked, and the answer had nothing to do with government tax rates and everything to do with what the company was charging people.
@surreality said:
@Shebakoby said:
Oh. Interesting. So, if Canada wasn't having price controls, would Americans be as badly gouged in drug prices, then?
All signs point to yes. If you look at gas prices for an example it becomes fairly clear: if they could get away with it yesterday, they will try to get away with it today and tomorrow.
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@Shebakoby said:
@TNP said:
Plus, when it comes to prescription drugs, unless it's changed in the last couple years, it's illegal for the government to try to get better drug prices from the pharmaceutical companies for Medicare. And who pays for Medicare? The taxpayers! So we get screwed that way too.
whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. That makes so much negative sense. Who put that stupid rule into effect and when?
The politicians in Congress, of course. Who coincidentally get hefty reelection campaign donations from Big Pharma.
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A lot of this is apples to oranges in general. My experiences living in a major metro area are not the same as someone else's in even the same state in a rural area which aren't the same as people living in other states. Within America alone there's a huge disparity.
The Medicaid and Medicare systems are insane. You are forced into them. Even if someone wanted to buy private insurance they won't sell it to you if you qualify for the programs based on age/income. I purposefully made less money to go to school so I qualified for Medicaid. I didn't want Medicaid. I made a financial choice and could afford insurance but I was told that if you qualify for Medicaid it's a done deal and was signed up through the system.
That same system canceled me and wouldn't let me have ANY insurance. No reason. I just got a phone call that said they made a mistake. Our bad, it said. Sorry you haven't had insurance this year, system error. It's July. I have asthma. Thankfully it hasn't been much of a problem since I've gotten much healthier. I could afford my meds and finally kicked my long term controller med anyhow...which was 'only' $400 a month.
My major issue with this is why should I be forced into a system that's there to help people when they are down? Let someone else have my Medicaid dollars. When I was married and on Tricare, my doctor took it out of charity to the military and their families. It didn't pay shit. Why should someone who devotes so much of their life caring for others be relegated to chump change? I've done taxes for doctors. What they end up making after student loans and malpractice is not as much as people seem to think and then you compare it to the hours, the dealing with people and insurance companies and the good ones spend time advocating for their patients, the constant need to keep learning and the time not spent with families and yikes.
No system is perfect. You can't look at England and Canada and then the U.S. And say 'well we should do what they do' because we're all so different.
The government helps and hurts in turns. Look at rescue inhalers for asthmatics. Cheap generics were around. Then they decided we were killing the environment with our CFCs so they made them illegal. The new inhalers aren't generic (yay patents) and they suck. It'll be years before were paying less that $50+ for these to breathe and they don't work as well.
The best thing we can all do is become educated and be our healthiest selves. Smokers pay in with taxes and cost healthcare billions a year. At least there's a sort of offset there but quitting would help that drain. Obesity costs somewhere around 200 billion a year if I'm correct. It's bankrupting the nhs in England. That's one lesson we can all take to heart no matter where you are. Diabeties is expensive and in many cases preventable. These are two choices at the individual level we can all do to help the 'system'.
Fun? What is this fun thou speakest of?
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@Luna Be careful with that maturity. You might put someone's eye-dealism out.
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They are price-gouging the fuck out of the Americans, that's where. What the drug companies won't tell you is that several of them are heavily-invested in a variety of generic manufacturers. So, the generics aren't really competing against them: they are actually demonstrating how badly American consumers are getting price-gouged.
This. Forever this. >_<
Why should someone who devotes so much of their life caring for others be relegated to chump change? I've done taxes for doctors.
This is kind of a fucked up thing, because while that's true, it's also very much not true.
For instance, according to economists it's estimated that 21% of doctors in the United States are in the top 1% of income earners (by comparison, lawyers comprise only 12%). However it's also true that general primary care physicians make pay that lags vastly behind that of specialist doctors, and that after including the costs of school loans and other factors (like you mentioned) those general practitioners often take hom far less than what most people expect when they think of 'rich doctors', even making less than general care physicians in other countries.
But it's also true that that's very rarely the case for specialists, who commonly bring in six figures, and 70% of the doctors in the United States are specialists. At least according to Forbes in 2013. I doubt that's changed much in the last 2 years.
So our general care doctors get paid less than general care doctors in other countries, but our specialists get paid more than specialists in other countries, and our distribution of general to specialist is a 70/30 split. Which is why whenever people argue about how much 'doctors' make it's often both sides (too much vs too little) that are correct, at least in the US.
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@HelloRaptor Six figures doesn't = rich. It can vary depending on cost of living and how far into those six figures you are. And the cost of malpractice insurance often runs six figures as well.
The plastic surgeons on Botched are rolling in it I'm sure. And why shouldn't they be? Debakey was very well off, and why not? He was a pioneer and thankfully a wonderfully giving man.
Why would person who makes a lot of money but doesn't make it helping people be encouraged to donate money, but a doctor who makes their money helping people be expected to not be rich at all?
Fun? What is this fun thou speakest of?
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@Luna said:
Why would person who makes a lot of money but doesn't make it helping people be encouraged to donate money, but a doctor who makes their money helping people be expected to not be rich at all?
I don't like the use of 'should' when it comes to this sort of thing; the job market is still a market, and as such it's subject to its laws. Supply and demand. That's why semi-talented seven feet tall basketball players are paid a fortune - they don't grow on trees.
Having said there, there are more ways to help people than to operate on them.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel I agree. I was speaking about doctors contextually however. And Debakey did WAY more than just operate. My psych doc is worth her price and she gives me lots of support and goes against office policy when it comes to my refills because she knows I'm out of pocket.
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In other news...Wells Fargo repossessed my car. I should be getting it back this afternoon, and as soon as I do, the state of Texas is going to open a case and investigate it. The agent for the consumer credit commissioner is super eager for some reason but he said it was better to have it back before we start, and I agree. It's seven levels of fucked up, start to finish. I had the money. I gave them the money. Clerical error messed up my payment, but aside from that they did a few things that aren't even legal in Texas. Then I had to wait almost almost week to give them LESS MONEY THAN I ALREADY TRIED TO GIVE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. I literally can't even. I hate my rental Camry. Cars suck.
And I feel extra fat. I hate everyone so I'm going to go buy things at ikea.
Fun? What is this fun thou speakest of?
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@Luna So you hate everyone except for the Swedes.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel Basically yes.
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This explains so much.
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@Luna said:
When I was married and on Tricare, my doctor took it out of charity to the military and their families. It didn't pay shit. Why should someone who devotes so much of their life caring for others be relegated to chump change?
They shouldn't, and, in most Western nations, the government pays quite well. In Canada, doctors willing to head to remote places can get up to double what others receive for the same services (and end up having to pay that for basic resources, still). In other nations, the government may forgive loans made to their doctors for a return of service.
The reason why Medicare/Medicaid/Tricare pays so poorly is because of a lack of political will to reform the entire system. If you boost the public payments, the lower and middle classes bear the burden. The lower arguably receive the care, so the payments balance, but the middle classes will get fucked. The government knows this, so they don't do anything about it. In the short-term, this is a political ploy. In the long-term, it is sheer idiocy.
If you raise Medicare/Medicaid/Tricare and increase its availability by, oh, making it available to everyone on an income-basis (those who make less money pay less; those who make more pay more), you will make it competitive and acceptable to consumers and providers. That would force the private insurers to become more competitive, or leave the market. But, Heaven forbid you make any red-blooded American support the idea of a "crown corporation" in the economy, despite the fact that the federal government is one of the largest corporate suppliers, employers, and consumers in the fucking economy.
I try not to think about all of this shit on a daily basis, because it pushes me further towards the Comedian's mentality about things. But then, if you hear about a lawyer-turned-supervillain in the news, that'd be me.
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@Luna This is a whole lot of
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Some people are such asshats. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/breastfeeding-mother-baby-snatched-primark-154502930.html
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel said:
Some people are such asshats. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/breastfeeding-mother-baby-snatched-primark-154502930.html
For reals. Breastfeeding at a store. Gawd.
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@Arkandel said:
Some people are such asshats. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/breastfeeding-mother-baby-snatched-primark-154502930.html
If the facts in that story are true they fit the elements of Kidnapping in my jurisdiction.
One comment on the article reads, however:
"This has already been debunked. Security footage was reviewed and it never happened. Her description of the security guard didn't match any of the store's employees. This isn't the first time she's made allegations like this, although the baby snatching certainly upped the ante."
So it's important to question.
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He could have been saying the lady making things up is an asshat. >.>
